Mr. Speaker, I rise to present my bill entitled, An Act to amend the Statutory Instruments Act, which I will refer to by its short title, the Red Tape Review and Reduction Act.

This bill was created in response to a lack of meaningful action on the part of the Conservative government to actually tackle the problem of red tape facing our nation's small businesses. The bill is about changing the DNA, the culture of government and putting the concerns of small businesses at the heart of all regulatory decisions.

In short, the bill compels all regulation-making authorities to set annual reduction targets, and these targets are set by looking at how regulations affect the ability of Canadian businesses to compete domestically and in the global marketplace, consulting with stakeholders and other regulatory bodies and identifying regulations that can be eliminated.

The targets and their progress would then be reported to the government and to Parliament to ensure transparency and accountability.